Katrina Selsor talked about the pressure of the season as the Colorado Mesa women’s basketball team left Grand Junction last week on a bus ride to Denver and weekend conference games against Colorado Mines and Colorado Christian.

The Mavericks had started 17-0 and knew the undefeated record was a big target on their backs. To add to the pressure, they had risen to No. 4 in the NCAA Division II women’s poll.

“We have to play against their best game,” the Mesa standout said. “Our goal is to be considered the team to beat for the title.”

Everything went well Friday in a 65-51 victory over Mines that stretched Mesa’s record to 18-0. However, the Mavericks got exactly what Selsor expected from Colorado Christian and it cost them in a 77-73 setback Saturday. The Mavericks, now 18-1 overall, still have control in the RMAC with a 14-1 record and seven games to go in the regular season.

“It was one of those nights where nothing we did went right,” coach Taylor Wagner said. “Colorado Christian played great and they were gunning for us. We knew that going in. We battled back in the second half and took a three-point lead, but we couldn’t finish it off.”

Wagner is ready to see how his team responds when it gets back on the court this week.

Mesa’s women’s program has been fairly strong through the years. Its previous best in the polls was a No. 7 ranking in 2002.

Wagner was making it look easy in his first season as the head coach. He had come to Mesa from Otero Junior College in La Junta, and brought with him impressive credentials. Last year at Otero, his team went 33-3, won a regional tournament and finished in eighth place in the national junior college tournament.

“The team was pretty much already set when I got here,” Wagner said. “We added our system that included a lot of emphasis on playing strong defense.”

Selsor said she believes Wagner brought the extra dimension to the team.

“He doesn’t accept bad practices,” Selsor said. “He holds us accountable for the way we play, and he put us in position to be successful.”

Wagner lauds his team’s performance, especially his big three: senior forward Kelsey Sigl, and sisters Katrina, a senior guard, and junior guard Sharaya Selsor. Sigl is a transfer from Bismarck State, and the Selsor sisters are from Glenwood Springs.

“We’re getting good scoring from our top three,” Wagner said. “Kelsey Sigl (17.8 points) just is a great shooter. Katrina Selsor is a statistics sheet stuffer.”

Sharaya Selsor (13.5 ppg) is second behind Sigl in scoring. Katrina Selsor is third in scoring at 13.3 points, but leads the team in free throws with 90, rebounds at 8.5 a game, assists with 74 and steals with 38.

WASHINGTON — Thirty games into the 82-game NHL season, and nearly six weeks after the Matt Duchene trade, Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic discussed the state of his team before Tuesday’s 5-2 loss at the Washington Capitals.